


Mathom

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, May the 4th Treat, Rey Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-25 08:52:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10760868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: On Jakku, nothing was given for free.





	Mathom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [incognitajones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/incognitajones/gifts).



The first lesson Rey could remember was that everyone wanted something. Jakku was a hard climate and a hard culture. Nothing was given for free, not a meal, not even a smile. In the far reaches of her memories, more sensation than image, Rey recalled arms holding her and rocking her, a voice singing low lullabies to her, someone loving her. Those memories were all but abraded away by the sand and scorched to ash by the sun. Jakku had no time for songs. The people who lived and worked and sweated and cursed here had no arms for hugs, not without a price.

She learned, later, that Unkar Plutt protected her from the worst of what could have been. The price she paid for his patronage was her work, first with her quick and nimble hands, perfect for easing into the guts of an old engine to scavenge parts, then with her lithe and strong body, perfect for climbing into a ruined hulk to scavenge anything she could find. Plutt kept Rey fed, and he kept her clear of those who would have traded her other work with her hands and body for their favors. She owed him little, but she did owe him that, and she knew the debt too would come due in time. She read the notations in his mental ledger, marked against her name.

Friends were hard to come by, and impossible to keep. Other children came and went in Niima Outpost, and rare playtime meant rarer bonds. Children soon grew into the same rough molds as their parents, striking hard deals in exchange for a hint of purchased kindness.

When the girl, Jessika, placed a wrapped parcel on Rey's bunk, Rey's first impulse was to shove it away, lest whatever it was explode or leak over the one small thing she tentatively called her own.

Jess frowned, seeing Rey's expression. "What's wrong?"

"What is it?"

"Open it."

"What do you want?"

"What do you mean? It's a present."

Rey shook her head. People always wanted something in exchange. She'd heard about gifts. In the very back of her gray memories, her small hands clutched a soft toy as a voice said, "Happy birthday, dear heart." She was almost sure she'd dreamed it, dreamed everything before she'd awakened on Jakku as another unwanted orphan.

Maybe Jess read this on her face. More likely, she and Finn had been chatting again. She offered up a friendly smile, and she sat on the edge of Rey's bunk, keeping her distance as she might from a wild animal she didn't intend to spook. "It's more fun if you open it, but okay." Her hands were nimble and strong and never put to service for a man who watched her and tallied her debts in his eyes. Jess untied the knotted fabric.

There was a frame with a holosnap inside: Rey standing with Finn and Poe, her face caught in a rare smile as the three of them looked at something. Still worried, Rey took it into her hand and brought it closer.

"You don't have any pictures at your bunk," Jess said. "Most of us have holos of our families or sweethearts. I thought you might like one." Seeing Rey's face again, she reached for the frame. "Sorry. I guess it was a bad idea. I didn't mean that you didn't have someone."

Instinctively, Rey pulled her arm away, holding the frame to herself. "No. It's wonderful. Thank you." She turned, her heart hammering, and found a place to clip the frame to the support. She could see it while she rested. "Is that.... Does that work?"

"It's great. Are you sure you like it?"

Rey nodded. She wondered what Jess wanted, what the price would be for a thoughtful gift.

"Great. See you at dinner, right?"

"Right." Rey sat, watching Jessika walk away, shaking her head a little at Rey's weirdness. She hadn't wanted anything. She'd been kind for the sake of being kind, because Rey was someone who needed kindness.

Rey looked at the picture again, seeing the easy smiles of her two best friends. They had all rescued each other, debt upon debt, demanding nothing just as Jess had asked nothing for the gift.

That's what friends did.


End file.
